A Journey Deep

by Beth Reason

  Chapter 7

  Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen... I counted off the reps.

  I didn't mind the weightlifting anymore. "Pumping iron, just like men used to," said Ralph. "Clears your head, boy."

  Fifteen. Sixteen. Seventeen.

  He was right about that. There's something very satisfying about pushing the weights up and down over my chest until everything aches. It might sound ridiculous, but it's true. The burn cleans.

  Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty.

  I thought of the fah'ti. It was out there somewhere, on it's way to where it should have been left all along. I was still a bit confused about the whole thing, even though Marlon gave me a tour of Bradley's lab and tried to explain it all.

  "We've got the specs. That's all we actually needed. God, can you believe we wasted so much time on gobbledeegook code when the real puzzle was right in front of us?"

  Twenty one. Twenty two. Twenty three.

  Apparently the part we needed, they needed...aw hell. The part we needed was the construction. We needed to know how to build the hardware, how to link ourselves to it.

  "That's the key, Master Cosworth," said the Bradley bot. "The code, as you succinctly put, is us. Our biorhythms. Our impulses. Our thoughts and heartbeats."

  "Our souls," said Lynette.

  Both the bot and Marlon took exception to that.

  "Souls? Really? Didn't think you were one of those spiritual types, Lynnie."

  "The concept of the 'soul', as you referred, is an abstract concept for those who believe there needs to be more than the wonderful world of science guiding beings through the planets, Miss Donnely. Soul?" The bot actually almost laughed in condescension.

  Twenty four. Twenty five. Stop? No. Not yet. Twenty six.

  They might have had a point, but they didn't have to be so mean about it. Lynette didn't go back down to the lab after their snide remarks. I don't suppose they really wanted her there, anyway.

  They got what they needed off the fah'ti, then decided to send it back in to place. While I pumped iron, it was on a ship. When they arrived to the proper spot, it would be deployed. And then they were going to activate it. If all went according to plan, it wouldn't take more than a day or two for transmissions to begin. And then, then I could finally talk to Dad.

  Twenty seven. Twenty eight. Twenty nine.

  One more day, and I should know. How much time had passed for them? For me, really? I could talk to Dad. StarTech could get a mile of data downloaded. That would make all the squeaks happy. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was even looking forward to talking to Mother.

  Thirty.

  Would I be able to inspeak then? With that connection, would it be possible to...

  I put the weigh bar on the rack and stood up quickly, shutting down the swirling thoughts of "what if" that had me on edge all day. The workout wasn't holding them back any longer.

  "Everything okay, Jake?" Ralph was getting some test done to him by Dr. Karl in the corner of the room. Lynette looked up from her holo and raised her eyebrow.

  "I'm hitting the showers."

  "You only did one round on the tread, Mr. Cosworth," said Dr.Karl in a patronizing tone. "Do I need to remind you about the Tuesday schedule?"

  "I'm hitting the showers," I repeated, feeling the anxiety threaten to change to anger. I caught Ralph's look to the good doctor before I left the room.

  I guess I didn't want to know the answers. The water cascaded over me and I let myself think what I didn't want to be thinking. I was...nervous. Anxious. Tense as hell. I felt like I had a spring wound up tight inside. It was so confusing. I missed them all so terribly that I ached for contact. And yet...

  I didn't want to know how much time had passed for them. What if it had been years? What if Dad and Mother were even more gray and wrinkled? Or worse. For me it was only about four months, give or take. I had a birthday, according to my ship clock. But what about theirs? What about their reality? Would I be a freak to them? Would they look on the screen and expect to see a man, grown, bearded or balding with a wife and kids and a career?

  I soaped up my hair and tried not to continue the thoughts. Try as I might, I couldn't help them from coming. They'd been ever present in the corners of my mind for the week and a half since I "cracked" the fah'ti. They kept me awake all night. They'd pop in to the forefront without any warning when I was trying to test up to the next level through the HuTA. That one was like an extra slap, because I was actually trying to pay attention to lessons for once.

  Even if I could reach out, find the connection I've missed, find her...Was she even still alive?

  I shut the thought down.

  I got out of the shower and dressed quickly. It was time for a trip to the lab. It was a last attempt at a distraction. I thought about letting Ralph know where I was going, but then changed my mind. He'd just send Lynette with me. And she would make me talk about what's bugging me. I needed to be around selfish jerks who didn't pry.

  I slipped out and down the now familiar series of twists, turns, lefts and rights that would take me on a three minute elevator ride to the "bowels of the planet", as the Bradley bot put it.

  They weren't the bowels. It just took a long time to get there. That's why it felt so deep.

  Everyone complained about the long elevator ride.

  "It's only seventeen floors. We should have been there like yesterday."

  "This is ridiculous."

  "Someone needs a shower. Bad."

  "I can get all the way to Earth faster!"

  "Can't they make an elevator that moves faster than molasses?"

  Molasses is a syrup, by the way. I had to look that one up.

  I understood the physics of this elevator. Of course StarTech could make fast elevators. They're all over the place above ground. Underground, though, they were not straight shafts. They moved at a slight angle. The Bradley bot explained it to me on my first trip down.

  "You see, Master Cosworth..." He always called all the young men "Master" So and So. Ralph said that it's an antiquated form of respect. "The stability of the Martian geology is less than predictable. There are pockets of minerals that have varying degrees of consistency."

  "Isn't that the same on Earth?"

  "Yes. And that's precisely why construction on that home planet of mine is limited. Buildings have been built the same way for so many generations that most would balk at an angled elevator! Up here, we have no such constraints. While we were as careful as could be in selection the location for building Utopia, we had the foresight to know we knew nothing about the alien terra firma."

  When he says "we", he's not using it in the grand sense of the StarTech organization. He actually means "we", as in "theirs and my hands physically built this". He's a bot with uploaded memories. If you really stop and give it too much thought, it'll creep you out.

  "So you built the elevators at an angle."

  "Yes. A slight one, about a five degree off square pitch. It makes for a slower ride, but it's far more stable. Not to mention the reinforced panels. With this type of shaft, we could build a safe ride through anything as stable as iron, to something as shifting as sand! Of course, if it were through sand, I suppose both the level we traveled to and the one we traveled from would be far too unstable to actually use..."

  He babbled on the rest of the ride going off in many different directions in a short time. That's the thing about Bradley. In most people, one idea leads to the next. Or maybe a couple of possibilities. In Justin Bradley, one thought would lead to an entire universe. I like the guy, for all he creeps me out. But if I had to work around him all day, I'd probably go nuts. I wondered how Marlon could put up with him every day.

  The doors opened and the security officer waved me through. The next one made me use my pass. The third needed the retinal scan. Same deal. Pain in the butt, but the lab was worth it. Every time those huge doors slid open and all of StarTech's most valuable and most secret projects lined the rows in fro
nt of me, I knew all the hassle was worth it.

  I saw Marlon and some other tech in an argument around the fah'ti replica they were attempting to build. I wandered over and looked at the prototype while they bickered.

  "I said two tenths of a millimeter!" the techie was yelling. "Two tenths! Not one tenth. Not three tenths."

  "And I said it won't be enough to transmit. As I've explained five times now, I don't give a rat's ass what your spec sheet says. Use bigger wire."

  The tech gritted his teeth. "And any baboon can look and see that would mean rewiring the entire CPU-STO."

  "Then I suggest you get a baboon and get wiring because two tenths ain't gonna cut it!"

  Marlon was red. He had "that look". I stepped in. "What's going on?"

  "Number jockey over here can't wrap his puny brain around the fact that he's using wire that cannot possibly transmit data fast enough..."

  "And this young punk can't get it through his thick head that the entire CPU-STO has already been wired and passed three tests for conductivity."

  Marlon tugged at his hair and squeaked in frustration. "Conductivity isn't the problem you half wit!" He pinched his fingers and thumb together. "Say it with me. Transfer rate. Transfer rate." He was using that condescending voice that made the world want to smack him.

  The tech threw his hands in the air. "That's it. That is it! I didn't sign up to babysit. Bradley!" The man turned and stormed off.

  "Is it really asking that much to get someone who has two brain cells to rub together? Is it?" I didn't answer. It was rhetorical. "If I need to transmit a terrabyte at rates equivalent to 120m/s, that's not going to happen with that floss he calls wire." He turned and looked down the aisle where the techie was quickly stomping off. "And he's too lazy to do the job right!"

  The techie heard him like he was supposed to. I don't think the hand gesture he shot back was all that unexpected, either.

  Marlon ran a hand through his hair and crouched down in front of the prototype. "I gave him the specs. It's not my fault he didn't read them."

  I looked over the contraption. They'd been working on it since the moment the real fah'ti was in their possession. They did their best to copy the hardware, but I noticed now that they were making some very big changes to the CPU-STO, as Marlon hammered into my head when I'd call it the "clump of wire thing in the middle". Central Processing Unit- Synaptic Telemetry Output.

  I know. I'm impressed I remembered that, too.

  It controlled the unit. Basically, it linked similar biorhythms through space and time. Seems flimsy when I put it like that, doesn't it? And maybe it is. But maybe it's not. Reginald believes that all that is needed for predictable travel through wormholes is a gentle push.

  "Yes, we called it a tide," he said excitedly one day when he was in the lab looking at the progress while I was there. "But maybe it's not. It ebbs and flows...but maybe it just needs one little whisper of direction. Maybe just a nudge. A thought, even. A feeling."

  Bradley often ignored Reginald. He tolerated him in the lab, but just barely. And if Reginald started touching things, the bot would get downright annoyed.

  "MISter Luckson," he'd say in a booming voice. "Do I come to your office and tinker with your silly baubles? Need I remind you that I know for a fact your grandfather taught you how to respect your elders? Hm?"

  Reginald would always laugh it off. Bradley was, after all, just a bot. It's an odd dynamic. I wondered what Dad would have said about the two of them?

  Reginald's theory was that the flow inside a wormhole only needed a little programming. Marlon's opinion differed a little, which, to Marlon, meant Reginald was a moron. Marlon thought it was all a mad jumble with invisible threads going from every possible place and time, connections like computer wires all knotted up. He thought the fah'ti didn't guide at all, but picked the right path.

  When I told both of them that they were basically saying the same thing, even the Bradley bot scoffed at my ignorance. I learned to keep my mouth shut and just nod and be polite.

  I didn't really go to the lab to look at the fah'ti, anyway. I knew what a fah'ti was. I'd used one, and that put me in a class with exactly one other human, and it certainly wasn't any of the scientists who thought they knew it all down in the little lab. It made me valuable to them for about two minutes the first time I went down there. I went through the fah'ti, so, in their minds, I was an expert.

  "How do you go through it?" they would ask over and over.

  "You just do," was the only answer I could give.

  "Yes, but what do you do?"

  "Go through it."

  "HOW?!"

  They gave up. I gave up. I didn't know. It just worked. Let them figure it out.

  No, I didn't come to the lab for the fah'ti. I came to the lab for everything else. The fah'ti was the only active project. All hands were on deck to either get a working prototype, or to get the other one functional and wait for the flood of data. The workstations were silent. And that meant no one paid attention when I wanted to get a sneak preview of "the next great thing".

  I liked the weapons. Maybe it's the Qitani influence. Ralph thinks so. I don't actually want to use them. Not on people, anyway. But they are amazing.

  Take the Stunner XJ-7, for example. Stun guns are so old that we even had them aboard the ship, so there's nothing really new about the basic concept. But the XJ-7 delivers a certain type of electrical shock to the spine that quickly constricts all the muscles, pinching off the impulses through the spinal chord and rendering the victim completely helpless. They can't even kick or punch. One zap and it's boom, instant vegetable. I was very careful when I looked at that particular experiment.

  Then there was the LLD, Lethal Laser Device. Simple name for such a complicated machine. It worker on the same crystal propulsion theory that drove modern space craft, only on a much, much smaller scale. They want it to stop an enemy, not send them into space.

  ...although, now that I think about it, blasting them into space would certainly end a problem, wouldn't it?

  Anyway, one quick press of a button and the enemy would have a hole in them a mile wide. The work station was surrounded by a crystal blast shield, but even so, there were deep burn marks in the desk and the floor inside the shield. I was never allowed to touch it. But I wanted to. Boy, did I want to.

  I walked away from Marlon to follow the aisle to my favorite invention. He wouldn't even miss me. I'm not even sure he really knew I was there. He hadn't really been talking to me, just griping out loud. I got to the end of the main aisle and turned down the hall.

  Physical inventions were created in the main lab. It was an open space with every kind of machinery imaginable, and people worked in stations on large tables with other arrays of smaller tools for the job. Three whole Condor Ones could have fit inside the main lab. That alone would have been impressive. But there were some "inventions" that weren't things so much as experiments. Some contained viruses. Some contained animals being studied. Most of them, though, contained plant life of different forms in secured environments. Every climate of Earth was represented, as the Bradley bot was proud to repeat over and over. I passed both arctic and desert. I walked right by the plains. I paused once again at the forest. Something about that one was beautiful. But I knew where I wanted to be. Swamps.

  I ran my key through the door and waited, then entered the air lock. I had to wait for the door behind me to close and seal, then press the button. The outside air was sucked out and the heavy, humid swamp breeze filled the chamber. I felt myself unwind. I was somewhere that felt familiar. It felt like Laak'sa, felt like home. The door clicked and swung open and I could hear the buzz of dragonfly wings.

  Okay, not just like home. Laak'sa didn't have dragon flies. They did, however, have caa flies, and they had the same almost mechanical buzz when their wings flap incredibly fast. Their water was different. The marsh in the artificial environment smelled sweeter, where Laak'sa's had a slight sulfur smell. No
t as bad as v-2445, but definitely there. The mud in the containment chamber was deep brown, while on Laak'sa, it was a deep green. I sat on a log and closed my eyes. The differences didn't change the feeling. It felt like home.

  I wished I had learned about the swamp room earlier. I was going to Earth soon. I wasn't sure when, but Christophe was pleased with the feedback from his leaks and assured me it would be sooner rather than later. I would be leaving. Would I find a place like the swamp room on Earth?

  The room only measured twenty feet by thirty feet. The "sun" was really just a light. Everything inside had been carefully shipped from Earth. The water ran from one side of the room on a slight artificial tilt, then got piped under the floor back to the top of the small rise to simulate the slight flow that true swamps have. There were frogs. They croaked in the simulated night. There were flies of different types, and even some kind of fish. "Mud skippers", though I never got to see them skip in the mud. There were even a few rodents. "River rats". They didn't bother me. One of them sniffed my foot and took a nibble at my boot, but he clearly didn't like the flavor and didn't bother me again after.

  Each afternoon the humidity gathered under the simulated hazy sun and fell in a heavy mist. It was no quite strong enough to be called a rain. The environment was just not big enough for that. It misted heavily for about an hour, and then the simulated sun heated it back up and you could smell the excitement of the plants. The first time I went in the room about a week before was right after one of these showers. The plants stood taller. They seemed happier, fresher. I liked that. More than anything else, it made me feel at home. I took a deep breath of the musty air and felt myself relax.

  My holocom buzzed. I ignored it. Pretend it's a caa fly, I told myself. It buzzed again. It was hard to pretend it was a caa fly when it shook on my belt. I squeezed my eyes tighter and tried to hold on to the calm. When it buzzed a third time I gave up. It was Lynette. I clicked. Before I could talk, she began.

  "There you are. Are you in the marsh again? Why do you go there? You always come out stinking of rot."

  "I come here because it's the one place I can get peace and quiet around here!" It came out sounding harsher than I meant it to. It wasn't Lynette's fault I felt high strung. "It's not stinky. It's just marsh." I tried to sound more patient.

  "Ralph says you're to get back here stat."

  "Why?"

  "Lessons."

  I sighed. "Can't we skip them for a day?"

  She quirked an eyebrow. "And let you start falling behind just when you're finally starting to get the hang of it?"

  "Yes."

  She laughed, even though I was being serious. "I expect you back here in half an hour."

  Good. That would give me time to relax.

  "And I expect you to be showered off. I'm not spending the afternoon with someone who smells like a cesspool!"

  "What's a cesspool?"

  "You. Now get up here." The screen went blank. I sighed and pushed up. I knew I should have left the holo back in my room. I just knew it.

  "Wipe your feet," Mother had said. I walked out of the habitat and waited for the airlock to take away the warm wetness of the marsh and replace it with the chilly canned air we all breathe on Utopia. When the door clicked open, I stepped into the hallway and squeaked my muddy boots down the hall. On the ship, we always hit the decon chamber before entering our quarters. Any contaminants were hosed off, air dried, and then laser purified. We didn't have mud inside the Condor One, unless it was in collection samples. Every bit of dirt was gone before we crossed our threshold. I never had to wipe my feet because a highly honed electronic and robotic system did it for me.

  Squeak, with a satisfying sploshing noise. My feet were covered. My uniform pants were dank up to the knees in just the short time and I knew the seat of the pants were covered in muddy moss from sitting on the rotting log.

  "MISter Cosworth! If you insist on contaminating my habitats, the very least, and I do mean very, you could do would be to leave the bits and pieces where they belong! Now you've gone and tracked flora clear across the laboratory floor! It's going to take..."

  The lab door closed and sealed off the rest of Bradley's rant. Utopia had a lot of bored bots. I'm sure as soon as I stepped a muddied foot on the pristine floor a whole little fleet of them snapped to attention to get on the task. I passed the other security points and got on the elevator, laughing at the look on the outer guard's face.

  "What the hell they got goin' on in there?"

  He must not have had the clearance to go any further. I left my mud prints in the elevator and walked down the squeaky clean halls. I got to my quarters and was surprised to find Reginald waiting for me at the door. He hadn't been all the way down to my level yet.

  That sounded bad. I'm not knocking Reginald, but it was clear from the start that he lived in a different world. Nice guy, but as out of place with "regular people" as I was. It maked me feel bad for him. He spent his life building an enormous, beautiful place, and he only fit in on the very top floor.

  "Ah," he said, making a motion towards my muddy clothers. "That's what Bradley was going on about. You really must, must leave the habitats alone, Jake. The water content has been precisely measured..."

  "My security clearance allowed me in."

  "Are you going to make me cancel that clearance?"

  I sighed. "No. I'll stay out of it."

  He frowned, thinking. "I'll tell you what. You are free to enter the antechamber. How's that? You get to view the marsh you seem to like, and the habitat maintains a scientific perfection." He wouldn't understood how much worse that would have been than not being near the marsh at all. He patted my shoulder. "Glad that's settled. Now, why I'm here. We've got some news, some exciting news!"

  My heart leaped. "The fah'ti?"

  "No, no. That's still on schedule for tomorrow. No, something better."

  As if there were anything better!

  "Our records have been accepted and...wait, we shouldn't do this in the hall. Let's gather the team." He opened the door and shuffled me in, calling for the others. They came out of the other room and Lynette gave me the quirked-eyebrow look that meant she was less than impressed with my appearance. I gave a little shrug and a grin. She rolled her eyes.

  "What's going on, Reggie?"

  If Reginald minded Ralph's new nickname, he didn't mention. Since we saw Reginald get "drunk as a skunk", in Ralph's words, Ralph figured we reached a new level of acquaintanceship.

  "Great news, Ralph! Great news. Where's Jillian?"

  "Still sulking about the uniforms."

  Reginald scoffed. "That was weeks ago." He pulled his holo off his belt and tapped something out on the keys with more force than was necessary. After a second, Jillian's voice came through. He cut her off. "Quit being a baby and get down here. We've got big news and you're up to bat." He didn't give her time to respond. "Christophe's on the com to the press corp on Earth as we speak, but he'll be down for his own briefing later. I just couldn't wait." He glanced at his watch, then at the door, clearly bubbling with excitement. "Oh screw it. You can fill her in if she ever gets down here." He motioned to the dining table. "Everyone, have a seat." We did. And then Reginald stood at the head of the table and simply looked at us for a minute. He tends to be a little dramatic at time.

  "This morning I received a communique from the presidents of the United States, Russia, and Great Britain. As you may or may not know, the three lead the Counsel for Interstellar Oversight." He smiled at Ralph's look. "Yes, I know. What interstellar? Maybe they had big heads, or maybe someone simply listened to Grandfather all those years ago. The CIO is the largest roadblock. We've always battled. Father did. I try to make peace." He waved a quick hand. "I'm getting off track again.

  "I received a communique from the CIO requesting a formal hearing with you!" He was looking at me, grinning.

  "Uh...me?"

  "Yes. And Ralph, of course."

  I turned to Ralph.
"What do I need a hearing for? Isn't that for criminals?"

  Ralph looked to Reginald. Uh oh. I didn't like it that he wasn't even sure.

  "No, no," Reginald began, then stopped. "Well, yes. I mean, criminals have hearings. But this is more of a...hm. Formal presentation?" He sat down. "Let me see if I can explain."

  I'd go to Earth and straight to this hearing in front of not only the CIO, which consists of all the top politicians, I was assured, but the rest of the international governmental representatives. I'd have to stand in front of them and answer their questions.

  "What kind of questions?"

  "Oh, all of them. Who you are, what your life was like, where you've been..."

  "But that would take months!" said Ralph.

  Reginald sighed and explained further. I'd say what Christophe prepped me to say. We both would. It was just a formality, he insisted. They didn't really want to know all of the information. Not in that one hearing. They had copies of all the information we had, anyway.

  Ralph laughed. "Then why are we doing this?"

  Reginald seemed annoyed that we weren't thrilled. "Come on, Ralph. I know you've been gone awhile, but did you really think governments had changed? They need to say they put you through the paces. They need to publicly take and interest. They need to at least appear like they are making the world safe from potential invasion..."

  "But no one's invading!"

  Reginald tented his fingers and pressed the tips firmly to his mouth. I knew that look. He was on the edge of anger. "Listen to me and listen to me good. You need to get it through your head that about ninety nine percent of humanity is terrified of the unknown. Right now, you are the unknown."

  "And Ralph," I mumbled. I felt like I was being singled out. I was.

  "No. Ralph is already one of them. He'll be an oddity, at best. People will poke and prod and ooh and ahh and say 'I can't believe how young he looks!'. He's one of them. You are not."

  "But you've been saying..."

  "That you have to act like one of them! And you do. And that starts by going before their government and being as open and honest as possible and showing the people through their government that you are not a threat!"

  Ralph gave a little snort. "Open and honest...as long as it's in the script."

  Reginald did not deny it. "We are prepared for this. You are not. You will not tell a single lie. Your character will remain intact."

  Ralph really laughed then. "Have you read my service record? It's not my integrity and character I'm worried about."

  "I've read it. A womanizing fly boy. I get it. But the moment you gave that up for the noble cause of human space travel..."

  "Oh god," Ralph rolled his eyes.

  "...you shed the fly boy and became an international hero. And you will keep that image."

  Ralph gritted his teeth and crossed his arms over his chest. I didn't understand his sudden anger. "Don't worry. ST made sure my womanizing days were over."

  Reginald turned red and quickly cleared his throat. "Anyway, Jake. They will concentrate on you. Christophe will orchestrate it with you tonight before you leave."

  Wait. What? "Leave?"

  "Yes. We've got a window tonight at about two-ish. We'll have to take it. The next won't be for another three days."

  "But the fah'ti..." I turned to Ralph. "I thought we'd talk to Dad?"

  "Can't we just hold off and see if the fah'ti works?"

  Reginald shook his head. "No. We've got to hit this window, kid."

  "But..."

  "Here or Earth won't matter. You'll just go through our com channels from Earth."

  "But I'll be in flight."

  He sighed. "You've waited four months. You mean to tell me you can't wait an extra day? Come, now, Jake. Be a big kid."

  That was a low blow. I snapped my mouth shut and looked away. He kept babbling about Lynette and Marlon and the doc and the roles they'd play and blah blah. I didn't care. One day. He couldn't wait one damned day?

  I was ordered to the shower when the meeting was over. Reginald was gone when I came out, but Jillian was there. Once she heard the news, all sulking was forgotten and she was poking, measuring, holding up fabric, and arguing with herself the whole time.

  Marlon arrived at some point in the fitting of my new uniform. He didn't laugh, so I guess it didn't look that bad. "Why do we have to go today of all days?," he grumbled. "What's one more?"

  "I know, right?" At least he and I agreed on one thing.

  Lynette was making a list of things she and Marlon both had to pack. Jillian said they'd get new uniforms before we left.

  "Why do they need me to testify?" Marlon grumbled from the couch.

  "Technical questions."

  "Ask a squeak."

  Lynette sighed. "Technical questions about Jake," she said.

  I gave a laugh. "I'm not a bot."

  "And he's got to attest to that."

  I was about to laugh again, but she was being serious. "What the hell is wrong with the government?"

  "They need to get re-elected, that's what. It's a game of cover your own behinds. Haven't you read anything I've given you on modern governments?"

  "I thought you were kidding."

  Lynette stood and grabbed her list. "Come on, Marlon. Let's pack. We'll be down after dinner for Christophe's briefing."

  I was standing on top of the little table with my arms out where Jillian could mark where my stripes and tassels went. I argued against the tassels, but she pointed out that even Christophe had some. "They show rank. They stay." When I was all marked, Jillian grabbed the jacket she'd marked up for Ralph. "I better get these to the girls downstairs in laundry and see if they can help me work miracles. See you tonight!" The doc followed. He had a list of files he'd need to have prepared on my medicals for presentation, and he went to compile those and pack his own items.

  The flurry of activity was over and I flopped on the overly soft couch next to Ralph.

  "You okay, kiddo?"

  "I wanted to be here when they turned it on."

  He nodded. "Yeah, I know. Me too. But Reggie's right. I don't suppose it'll matter if we're here or Earthside." He smacked his hands together then rubbed them quickly. "I can't wait, man. I can't wait to get my hands into that dirt!"

  I was surprised. Ralph always seemed like he loved the stars.

  "It's different, Jake. It's not even anything I can explain. It's home. It's going home. I didn't think it mattered that much, but..." he gave a helpless little shrug. It was clear that it meant the world to him. For some reason, that made me feel a little better about the whole thing.

  "What are you looking forward to most?"

  "Burgers. A nice, thick burger. And a beer. A real beer, too, not this posh fruity crap they've got here. How about you? What are you looking forward to?"

  I was about to say I wasn't looking forward to any of it, but was surprised to find that wasn't exactly true anymore. Somewhere in me there was an interest. "I don't know," I answered honestly.

  He studied me for a second. As a second dad, he knew everything about me. Most importantly, he knew when not to pry. "Fair enough."

  I soon wished the rest of my team could learn that little trick. That night was terrible. Christophe's list of things I needed to remember was a mile long. "I'll never remember this," I said after I listened to a mind-numbing barrage of details.

  "You will. You'll listen and then when they ask, the answer will be triggered."

  As he peppered questions and answers my way, Jillian was simultaneously stuffing me into my new uniform, assuring me this was only a travel uniform and that the dress uniform was much fancier. She had to keep batting Doc's hand away, as he was reaching in for various tests to be able to present up-to-the-minute records to the IOC. Marlon was whining about missing out on his "life's work", Lynette had thought up a million things about the culture she forgot to tell me... All in all, it was a blur of activity, noise, and misery and I was actually grateful
when it was time to board the ship.

  Reginald lead the procession down the hallway. Apparently word was out and everyone and their brother turned out to clap for us and wish us luck. My face burned with embarrassment the whole time. We finally reached LD-7, the dock our craft was leaving from. Even though Reginald ran the place, it took some convincing for the staff to let Marlon and Lynette board.

  "Sir, they don't have clearance."

  "I am their clearance."

  "They're children! We don't have the data..."

  "They're both full grown."

  "But liability..."

  "They're indentured."

  "But..."

  On and on in heated but hushed whispers until Reginald finally said, "I appreciate your devotion to your position. It's good we have such devoted people. If you plan on remaining my devoted people, I suggest you step aside and let us board before we miss our window!"

  The staff let them board. Glared at them the whole time, but let them on nonetheless.

  "What's the big deal?" I asked Ralph.

  "No clearance."

  "So?"

  He shrugged, holding his arms up for the scanner. "So I don't think this craft is exactly past the experimental phase and they could end up being a huge problem."

  I stepped up and held my hands up like Ralph had, waiting for the scanners to sweep up and down, checking for everything from weapons to potential contaminants. "Like if they blab?" The scanner beeped and I cleared the deck.

  "No," said Marlon behind me. "Earth knows about these hoppers. They're worried that because we're kids we'll get killed and sue."

  Lynette sighed. "We can't sue if we're dead, idiot."

  He waved a hand, the scanner sounded a warning, and he held still while the process restarted. "You know what I mean. You die, I sue."

  "Aw, you'd really sue on my behalf if I died?"

  "Hell yeah. Easy livin' for life!"

  "Gee. You're such a sweet brother."

  Everyone was scanned in turn and the passage to the ship was automatically unlocked. "Passenger scan complete. Boarding approved. Please proceed cautiously." We followed the directions of the automated voice.

  The process of space travel was so familiar I could have performed prep in my sleep. A space ship. True, it was vastly different from the Condor. But all in all, it bore many similarities in shape to the smaller transports we used while the Condor was in orbit to get to the surface. The main visual differences were the size and the quality. The small transports we used only carried five people, while this craft could easily seat twenty. And everything just looked expensive, just like the jeweled planet, like the crystal dinner, like Reginald's office. This was no commercial flight. It reeked of wealth and power. It was something only for the upper echelon of StarTech. I doubted even the governments had anything this nice.

  A crew member ushered us to our seats. Before she explained how, I strapped myself in to the familiar harness. Some things didn't change in eighty years. I suppose some things didn't need to change in eighty years. A harness is a harness is a harness. I locked myself into mine, then noticed that Marlon and Lynette were struggling with theirs. I unclipped and leaned over Lynette, cinching her in. "You've never harnessed up?"

  She shook her head. "No. The boat goes a lot slower. We've got the bar until we break orbit, then again at landing. Other than that, no reason to be harnessed."

  I told her what I was doing for Marlon's benefit. The crew member was busy helping Jillian and I doubted Marlon would let me actually strap him in.

  "Thanks, Jake," Lynette said. Her hands were clenched. She was nervous. "You ever traveled so fast? I hear it's rough..."

  I snorted as I strapped myself in. "Sure, and it is. But don't fight it. Just...blitz out."

  "Concentrate on the video screen," Christophe said, securing his own strapping. "It's a carefully programmed series of pictures designed to relax you. Eventually you will fall asleep and will wake up when we slow down."

  She was still a ball of nerves. I could see her nails digging into the palms of her hands. I unstrapped and moved to the seat next to her. After I was strapped in, I took her hand. It was awkward, being strapped as tightly as we were, but I could feel her sag with relief.

  "Thanks," she whispered.

  "Are we going or what? My nuts are squished tighter than a hippo in a tutu!"

  Christophe shot Marlon a withering look. "I do hope you fall asleep quickly."

  The crew strapped in. I knew that meant we were about to lift off. The crew always waited until the last second, just in case something went wrong. I felt the engine fire. It wasn't loud, like the engines on our ships. Old tech equals loud tech. But it was more unnerving. Quieter, but more mechanical. It had the hum of high electricity that you can feel shooting through you, pulsing with your heart, making the hair on your neck stand on end. I felt Lynette tremble and squeezed her hand tighter.

  "Watch the screen."

  I knew they'd use some kind of gas mixture to help us fall asleep. The pictures on the screen were just a distraction so we wouldn't panic at the odd smell, the unusual feeling, the whirl. We used that on the Condor when we'd travel within a solar system. It was just easier. I don't think Lynette knew that, though. "Just watch the screen."

  She clutched my hand so tight that her nail began to dig in. It hurt, but I didn't mind. I'd been traveling that way my whole life. If I hadn't, I bet I would have been as scared. Even Marlon was feeling the nerves. For all his smarts and bravado, he wasn't fooling anyone. He was terrified.

  The hum increased under us. I knew we'd be lifting off soon. We'd clear orbit, and then the really terrifying part would begin, the rapid acceleration. On the screen were a series of pictures. Nature pictures. Pictures of little babies. Some kinds of animals couldn't identify. They were happy pictures. Silly pictures. They stayed on the screen just long enough to make you really begin to look, but changed before you wanted to stop looking. And again. And again. It is a smart system. I almost didn't notice we left the ground.

  I glanced around the cabin. No windows. There was a sealed door towards the front, similar to the one we came in through the back. That must be the control room. A sealed door meant I was correct. I felt the turbulence of the change in air as we climbed.

  On the screen was some sort of rock formation. "What's that, Lynette?"

  She was nearing panic. "What?" she asked desperately.

  "On the screen. The rock."

  "I...uh..."

  It changed. "Is that the Atlantic ocean?"

  "No," she said, gulping. "It looks like the Pacific. That looks like Hawaii."

  The screen changed. "What's that?"

  "Polar bear."

  "It looks cute," I said.

  "Cute?" Marlon scoffed, getting into the conversation. "It'll eat your face for breakfast, space monkey."

  "Yikes. I'll keep clear."

  "That's a giraffe."

  I smelled it in the air, the slightly sickly sweet gas mixture that would usher us into temporary oblivion. It was just a subtle change in the piped in ozone. I told myself to keep them talking just a few more minutes and then it would be all right. "Is that one dangerous?"

  "No. Just tall."

  "What's that smell?"

  Shut up, Marlon, my mind screamed silently at him. If I could have turned in my seat, I would have given him a glare that could melt an iceberg. "What's that building?" I asked, trying to keep Lynette's focus on me and not her boneheaded brother.

  "That's your...hey...what's...my eyes are going funny..."

  I squeezed her hand, starting to feel it as well. "It's fine. Just...orbit. What's that?"

  "Your house," she said.

  What? My house? That huge...that... My eyes were blurring. I felt her hand slackening. I heard her sigh softly, slipping into terrorless sleep. I stopped concentrating, took a deep breath, and let myself follow her into oblivion.